Dead Island movie rights optioned

Lionsgate has optioned the movie rights for a Dead Island movie based upon not the game, but its famous cinematic trailer. As such, it'll be a non-linear flick with a focus on family ties.

Dead Island's caused quite a stir with its cinematic 'announcement' trailer, painting a portrait of zombie attack which bore very little relation to the game itself. However, as had been rumored, that was enough to catch Hollywood's eye, and now Liongate plans to make a movie inspired by... that trailer.

"Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck," Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Joe Drake said in today's announcement. And so the media company has optioned the movie rights from publisher Deep Silver.

"This is exactly the type of property we're looking to adapt at Lionsgate--it's sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brand recognition around the world, and franchise potential."

According to Lionsgate, the trailer-inspired movie "will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling." Presumably it'll all make for one Hell of a trailer, too.

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The movie's said to be in the early stages of development, but producers are lined up to handle the financial and organizational side. 'The Mummy' producer Sean Daniel is leading production with his Sean Daniel Company and others including post-production whiz Stefan Sonnenfeld.

Of course, it's still early days and optioning means only that Lionsgate will have the rights if it can secure sufficient funding. Until a movie's greenlit, it's only a plan and a hope, and even then there's no guarantee it'll see the light of day.

Lionsgate was also behind the Kane & Lynch movie, which at point had Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx lined up to play the dastardly protagonists. The flick dropped off the radar a while ago, but IMDB still lists it for a 2013 release.

Dead Island, Techland's video game about stabbing, shooting, and otherwise dismembering zombies, was released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 6. So far, it's sold over two million units.